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Thursday, January 19, 2012

Crock Pot Beef Stew

I read it was impossible to make brown foods look good. This was my attempt.

So I am on Day 2 of crock pot cooking. The honey lemon chicken was such a hit I figured I would give the crock pot another try. I found this recipe on All Recipes.com. I was so excited when I found the recipe since I love beef stew. Beef stew is one of those reasons I love Winter. In fact, it might be the only reason I like Winter. It makes you feel so warm inside, especially when the temperatures are dropping here in the Northeast.

My mom always made beef stew when I was growing up and it continues to be one of my winter favorites. This recipe adds red wine so this makes me even happier. Please folks, do not buy a cheap bottle of wine to use in this soup or any dish for that matter. Only cook with wine you would drink from a glass. And if you have no pallet for wine and drink... I don't know.... Franzia from a box ( yes I did in college) then put whatever wine you have in. You will probably not tell the difference. Crap, I hope I didn't offend anyone. If I did, sorry!

Once again, not many pictures for this recipe since it is alot of dumping and not alot of cooking. Hey, I'm ok with it. The only thing I did was brown the meat the night before. I added everything the next morning and let it go for ten hours ( yes my days are long.) It came out great. Be careful on the salt here also. The broth is pretty high in sodium. I would hold off on salt until you taste it before serving or use low sodium broth. Mine did not need any salt at all.

My favorite thing to serve with beef stew is a large hunk of crusty ( chewy in the middle) bread I recently found this frozen bread from Whole Foods that is $2 and you pop in the oven for 10 minutes. It is super crusty on the outside and chewy on the inside. I almost ate the whole loaf myself. I settled for half. Holy carbs. I apologize in advance to my butt and thighs.

Hello yummy,delicious and cheap bread.

Enough about my thighs. Here is the recipe. Hope you enjoy!

Ingredients

4 pounds bottom round, well trimmed and cut into 2-inch pieces

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup olive oil (plus more if needed)

2 large onions, diced (2 cups)

1 6-ounce can tomato paste

1 cup dry red wine

1 pound potatoes, cut into 2-inch pieces (about 4 cups)

1/2 pound baby carrots (about 2 cups)

2 cups beef broth

1 tablespoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon dried thyme leaves

1 bay leaf

1 cup frozen peas, thawed

Preparation

Coat the beef in the flour. Heat a few tablespoons of the oil in a
large skillet over medium-high heat. Brown the meat, a few pieces at a
time, adding more oil as necessary. Transfer to a 4- to 6-quart slow
cooker. Add the onions to the skillet and cook over medium heat until
tender, about 10 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and coat the onions;
transfer to the cooker. Pour the wine into the skillet and scrape up any
browned bits; add to the cooker. Stir in the potatoes, carrots, broth,
salt, thyme, and bay leaf. Cover and cook on low heat for 7 1/2 hours,
or on high for 4 hours. Add the peas and heat through.